Optimizing your WordPress site for mobile web browsers is a great way to reach a significant portion of the Internet market. In this article we’ll be installing and reviewing a fantastic WordPress plugin that will allow you to publish your WordPress site for the Mobile web.
WordPress Mobile Pack was developed as a complete toolkit that makes the mobilization process simple, and fast. It includes a mobile platform switcher to help you select themes based on the audience visiting the site, mobile widgets, mobile themes, transcoding and device adaption, and an administrator panel also optimized for mobile browsers that will allow you to write new posts and edit the site on-the-go.
Installation
- Download the WordPress Mobile Pack plugin. The file will be saved onto your computer under the title “wordpress-mobile-pack.zip”.
- Access the Admin panel for your website and login.
- Click on the “Plugins” tab and select “Add new”.
- Activate the plugin.
Features
Mobile Switcher – The mobile platform switcher helps to distinguish between regular internet users and mobile users and then switches your site’s format accordingly.
Mobile Widgets – The pack will come with a number of widgets to help you integrate Google ads, social networks, barcodes, and custom ones as well.
Mobiles Themes – Included are fully XHTML-MP compliant, mobile-ready themes that can be customized to fit your site’s needs and overall Internet browser look. These themes come optimized for both for high-end website based smartphones and low-end mobile phones.
Transcoding and Device Adaption – This allows you to customize the content of your menus, posts, and pages to fit the scope of a mobile platform. You can simplify the styling, shrink images, and partition large posts.
Admin Panel – Your admin panel will be optimized for mobile use so you can create, edit, and customize posts and pages on your mobile phone.
Review
Installation was a snap, no issues or problems downloading or uploading the zip file for the plugin. If you do get lost however, WordPress Mobile Pack’s main page has an FAQ page to help answer your questions. We tested the mobile look of our site using the Opera Mini Simulator on a variety of mobile phones and it worked like a charm on each of them. We had a couple of longer posts that kept being cropped off before, but with the mobile plugin they were broken up into smaller paragraphs that fit the scope of the phone’s display.
Navigational links worked great, and scrolling was made to go up and down. One interesting note was that the plugin was even optimized when we switched to horizontal view on the iPhone – a nice touch. When we clicked on blog images and other media, they were resized to fit the proper parameters within the smartphone, and opened to original sizes when we clicked again. There are quite a few other features that look great on the mobile platform, but we’ll leave the various customizations and updates to you. All in all it was a seamless experience with no bugs on our end.
How was your experience with the WordPress Mobile Pack? Is there another plugin you use to optimize your site for the mobile platform?